Thank you to NetGalleyfor sharing Kill Creatures by Rory Power with me. I won’t lie, this one left me a bit puzzled and wanting more. It felt like there was at least another chapter missing. It may have been me, who knows. I’m eagerly looking forward to the.next book! I’d give it 3.8 stars instead of my usual five stars. Of course I rounded up to four stars to match the choices.

I couldn’t put this book down! From the very first page, I felt completely immersed in Nan’s turmoil—her grief, her guilt, and the creeping dread of secrets coming to light. I appreciated how the tension built with every chapter, making me question what really happened that night in Saltcedar Canyon. I felt deeply connected to Nan’s perspective, struggling alongside her as the past resurfaced in ways she never expected. I found myself flipping pages faster and faster, desperate to uncover the truth while also dreading what it might mean. The atmosphere was haunting, the emotions raw, and the story delivered twists that kept me on edge the entire time. By the end, I felt breathless—stunned by the revelations and moved by the complexity of guilt, friendship, and betrayal.

This book was an absolute whirlwind, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves dark, gripping mysteries that challenge everything you think you know.

This was interesting to say the least, crazy to say the most. Can't say I loved it as much as I was hoping, but glad they avoided the easy cliche twist they could've went with. Ending was cool

Thank you to NetGalley and. the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

I am a fan of Rory Power and was so excited to read this! I think this book has an awesome hook for teen readers and as a teacher, I LOVE that it packs a punch and tells a great story in under 300 pages. Kill Creatures tells the story of Nan, who killed her 3 friends (or did she?) in a duel-timeline format, which I thought worked well. Nan is an unreliable narrator and I was guessing what really happened until the very end. This book is perfect for readers who enjoy mysteries/thrillers and stories that keep you on your toes. I will definitely be adding a copy to my classroom library!

Oof. The hold this one had on me. Just when I thought I had it figured out, but it sure surprised me in a good way. I was eager to finish work today because I’d been thinking about it all day!

I haven’t read this author before, but I’m definitely going to be looking into reading more of their work. Their writing style was just chefs kiss, and this makes for a perfect summer read on the lake.

I really enjoyed the dual timeline narrative, and how the story unfolded. This was a fast paced, kept me guessing teenage thriller. It even felt a little relatable.

Nan is a girl living in a tourist town (I know what that’s like) just wanting a summer with her best girlfriends. You know, doing girl things, sleep overs, braiding hair, swimming. Until she kills them, and gets away with it. Except one year later, one of the girls shows up. It turns Nan’s world upside down because this girl is supposed to be dead, and stay dead..

𝘼 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙋𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙣 𝙍𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙃𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝘾𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙙𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙍𝘾

Thanks to random house children's & netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gripping from start to finish. I couldn't put it down until I was finished reading. Some things were obvious, but that didn't take away from the story at all. I was shocked by the twist at the end. trust no one. I didn't know whose side I was on.

Rory Power’s Kill Creatures opens with an irresistible hook: One summer night, Nan returns from a midnight boat ride—and three girls are missing. A year later, one of them comes back. The catch? Nan is certain she killed her, along with the other two.

Set against the haunting backdrop of a dry, sun-bleached Utah town, the novel delivers an eerie, slow-burn mystery that drips with dread. It’s got strong Pretty Little Liars energy—secrets, teen girl tension, unreliable narration, and a blurred line between guilt and truth. The vibes are immaculate.

But despite the chilling premise and tense atmosphere, I found myself wanting more. The book touches on complex dynamics—especially how Nan viewed the three girls versus how they might have seen her—but never fully explores them. I felt disconnected from the other girls, who remain vague and underdeveloped. Their backstories and motivations are barely scratched at, which made the emotional stakes feel thin.

Pacing was another issue. Some parts dragged while others felt oddly rushed, especially the ending. And while the twist involving Nan’s father was unexpected, it didn’t quite land for me—it raised more questions than it answered and ultimately left me disappointed.

Overall, Kill Creatures is compelling for its mood and central mystery, but I wish it had gone deeper into character development and emotional nuance. If you're in the mood for a haunting, psychological read with a strong sense of place and a twisty premise, it's worth picking up—but don’t expect all the answers.

Rated 4.25 stars on StoryGraph. Kill Creatures is a first-person dual-timelines YA thriller. Last summer four best friends drove a boat out to a canyon where they regularly hang out and only Nan came back. The search was called off months ago, the girls presumed dead. However, at the one-year anniversary memorial, one of the girls reappear. Nan is mystified by this turn of events; she knows that none of the girls should have come back because she killed them all. Nan needs to figure out if this person is who they say they are and if it's her, how did she survive, where has she been all year, and if she going to expose Nan for her murders. The narrative occasionally flashes back to the last summer and the events that led to Nan killing her best friends.
After reading the plot of this book, I could not get it out of my head and knew I had to read it ASAP. The plot was the highlight of the book, it was fun, engaging, and I was so invested. The twists seemed to be set up well (though it would take a reread for me to truly confirm that). I liked the characters, but I wish they had been set up and delved into more, especially the three best friends. It was well written and definitely a worthwhile read.

Thanks to Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

A creepy twisty YA mystery. Our 17 year old FMC has killed her other friends. A year later, one of the girls returns. The things Nan had kept from the girls are missing. Someone knows, and Nan is sure the girl who returned isn’t truly the girl. It’s haunting and keeps you incredibly hooked.

It's been a year since Nan murdered her three best friends, leaving their corpses in the canyon where they spent so many happy hours. No one has a clue, but she's still starting to unravel. Then Luce reappears, quite unbothered by her fatal bludgeoning apart from some amnesia. The narrative alternates between the last summer the girls spent together and the present, where Nan frantically tries to keep the investigation off track. In both times, the slowly increasing tension strains Nan to the breaking point. Nan is such an unreliable narrator even she doesn't know her full truth.

This was definitely something my older students would love to read in our book club! They love thrillers/horror so this would be really perfect for a summer read or fall read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

Kill Creatures by Rory Power is a first person-POV dual-timeline YA horror thriller. It’s been a year since Nan’s best friends Luce, Jane, and Edie have disappeared and been presumed dead. Nan has moved on with her life and is ready to finally put the past behind her. But then Luce rises from the dead and threatens everything Nan has done since her disappearance, including exposing Nan’s lies to cover up that she was the one who killed the three girls.

Nan’s POV is messy. It’s so messy. I loved it. I loved how stuck in her own head she is that she’s bought into the narrative that fits the reality she wants the most, that she’s incapable of accepting Edie doesn’t have feelings for her, and the things she does to be more like Luce. She lacks any real self-awareness and she’s not really interested in accepting her own flaws or that she is imperfect. And as she tries to keep her secrets covered up, we see even more of the mess and how far she’s willing to go to keep her peace of mind even if it ends up hurting other people.

I would classify this as a horror thriller because the pacing is very much what I would expect of a thriller and it keeps upping the tensions in ways I expect of the genre. The horror elements come from the tone and reveals. I think if someone really loved The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim, a horror thriller debut from last year, then there’s a high chance that they’ll also like this one.

Content warning for mentions of infidelity

I would recommend this to fans of horrors with thriller pacing and readers of YA looking for an unapologetically messy lead

This was different from the other Rory Power books that I've read. In her other novels, there is somewhat of a dreamlike uncertainty which isn't present here. I very much enjoyed this stylistic departure (although I also enjoy her other books!), as I think she was able to create an atmosphere of unease and mystery through her protagonist's mental state. Nan is a character who thinks she knows what she wants and what is happening, but as the audience experiences the "rebirth" of one of her murder victims along with her, it becomes clearer and clearer that Nan doesn't actually understand who she is or what she's done.

I found myself feeling incredibly sympathetic to Nan at the beginning of the novel, despite the fact that she confesses to murder pretty early on in the story. But as the story continued, although I empathized with her, I couldn't sympathize. This character development, from a character who you can (maybe) identify with, to a character who you feel may be getting what is coming to her is masterfully done and was such fun to read.

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good (and somewhat creepy) mystery narrative!

3.75 stars

Rory Power is back doing what this author does best: revealing young women's fears and vulnerabilities.

This time, Power features Nan, who is 17 and has had quite a year. When readers meet her, she's at the one-year marking of the loss of her three best friends. This event challenges Nan for obvious reasons, but things get even more bizarre when one of those friends resurfaces...alive. This all happens early in the book and is included in the synopsis, so these plot points are more set up than build up.

One absolute bonus of this book is that it is such a quick read. The vibe is creepy, the plot is twisty, and the characters are sus, and Power managess to build a compelling case in a package that can - and perhaps should - be read in a single sitting. I really appreciated this variety in a sea of often too-long YA novels.

For me, the conclusion is especially satisfying.

I continue to enjoy this author and will keep recommending to students (and reading myself)!

This was such a good book, all the twists and turns it took. It kept me on my toes the whole time and by the end I was just in shock.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for letting me read this early!

Kill Creatures was a fast paced YA mystery/thriller with one of the coolest covers that caught my eye right away. I was hooked pretty quickly by the story and I enjoyed Powers’ writing style. I definitely think the age demographic for this book (teens) would love it. Some readers who are a little more seasoned with thriller/mysteries may find the ending and twists a little predictable. But, even with the predictability it was a great story, very dark and angsty.
I think the synopsis actually gives a little too much away. I didn’t read it first and found myself being surprised by a few things in the first few chapters which I liked. I read the synopsis after the fact couldn’t believe how much was included.
All that being said, this was still a great, atmospheric thriller!

(Also, just as a bit of a language warning, this book used the F word more than 60 times, which is more than a lot of the adult novels I read. Just an FYI for those who may care.)

((Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the advanced copy))

A year ago, Nan’s best friends went missing. When the anniversary of their disappearance arrives, the night is brought to an abrupt halt by one of her best friends reappearing, alive and shaken. But Nan can’t find relief in her best friend’s reappearance, because her return isn’t the most shocking part—it’s that she came back at all, because Nan had been the one to kill her.

Ever since Wilder Girls, I’ve always been one to jump onto the Rory Powers train, so I didn’t even have to question whether I wanted to read this novel or not, and the gorgeous cover certainly didn’t hold me back. This novel felt a bit like returning to Powers’s roots that I feel I haven’t see in awhile. Queer, rageful girls. Obsession played a large part in this novel, and I think it tied in well with the constant presence of the unreliable narrator. Although the novel felt a bit short, I appreciated the twists, and it definitely makes for a good read if anyone is looking for something quick to fill an afternoon with angry, messy teen girls.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Rory Power's "Kill Creatures" follows teen Nan, a year after her three friends disappeared from the canyons near their small town. But then one of them returns alive and well. Except they can't have because Nan killed them herself.

This was a wild ride. I try to avoid YAs since I find them kind of exhausting to read but I took a chance with this new one from Rory Power ("Wilder Girls"). I was intrigued by the plot and wanted to see if I could guess the twist. I really felt for Nan and even towards the end as she unravelled, I still felt really sympathetic towards her. The "truth" of how Luce, Edie, and June thought of her really broke my heart. While I was not murderous, I identified with Nan's insecurities around them and the desire to be included.

I was not a huge fan of the ending if I'm being honest. I don't know cause I understand the way it ended but I think it would been far more compelling if it ended differently.

Still a mostly fun read.

Gripping and addictive mystery - small town, girls of a certain age, betrayals and wanting to belong - the perfect recipe for disaster. But that's not all that happened in the small town, and the story isn't so simple. Taut and fast moving, and everything isn't as it seems. A must read for mystery fans.

Four girls go into the wilderness and only one comes back out. The final girl admits to herself that she killed her best friends. With the setup for this book it seems like all of the suspense has already been accounted for. This book picks up a year after Nan and her friends went into the canyon called Devil's Eye. But now it looks like one of her friends isn't as dead as she thought they were.

I really enjoyed the buildup in this book. Going in it seems like everything was already laid out, we already know the victims and the killer....or do we? The story becomes so much more than the original premise and I was buckled in and along for the ride. Once the suspense started to build I was locked in and read about 50% of the book in one sitting. I appreciated how the twist towards the end of the book continued to keep twisting. As Nan dives deeper into what happened to her, what really happened that night, I had to reshape my expectations a few different times.